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(No Model.)

J'. S. JOHNSON 8v M. OSBORN. SHOE AND DIE FOR AMALGAMATING mus.

N0."Z'76,418. Patented Apr. 24, 1883;

t UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH S. JOHNSON AND MELZAR OSBORN, OF DOS OABEZOS, ARIZONA TERRITORY.

SHOE AND DIE FOR AMALGAMATlNG-PANS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 276,418, dated April 24., 1883. Application filed September 5, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOSEPH S. JOHNSON and MELZAR OSBORN, of Dos Gabezos, county of Cochise, Territory of Arizona, have invented an Improvement in Shoes and Dies for Amalgamating-Pans and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Our invention relates to improvements in shoes and dies for amalgamating-pans, said shoes and dies being formed of silver.

In the accompanying drawings the figure is a view ofa pan having our improved shoes and dies. i

As ordinarily constructed amalgamatingpans receive the pulp and tailings from the battery, and are provided with dies in the bottom of the pans and shoes, w hich are fixed to a revolving muller, so as to be moved over the dies and in close contact with them, whilethe pulp is caused to pass between these moving surfaces, where it is ground in the presence of quicksilver, so that the latter may amalgamate with any particles of gold or silver and take up any quicksilver or amalgam escaping from the battery or other previous apparatus. These iron shoes and dies are, however, themselves subjected to considerable wear by the sharp sand passing between them, and more or less iron is taken up with the amalgam, which is thus rendered base, and it is diificult to separate the gold and silver contained in it. The iron has, moreover, no particular affinity for. the particles of gold, silver, or amalgam, and is of no assistance in arresting them.

Our invention contemplates the use of shoes B and dies A, made of silver, which amalgamates readily with mercury and presents a surface having a strong affinity for any particles of gold, silver, or mercury, and will arrest the latter even when in its most diflicult condition to save, which is finely subdivided, and is known as floured quicksilver. These shoes and dies may be made flat or of any desired pattern.

In some cases the shoes B are in the form of rollers, which rotate as they pass over the dies, and thepulp is caused to pass between the surfaces of the rollers and the dies, the great aftinity of the amalgamated. silver causing it to take up the passing valuable particles with great avidity, that there is little need of the scouring or grinding action of flat shoes and dies. These shoes and dies may be used in what are known as continuous pans, in which the pulpis fed in at the center and is discharged continuously at the periphery of the pan. the amount of silver by their wear, and absolutely nothing is lost, and there is no additional expense created to separate out base metal afterward.

We are aware that copper plates coated with silver or quicksilver have been used below a battery to receive the flowing pulp and arrest whatever valuable metal adheres to it as it passes, and also that copper or silver plates have been used in amalgamating-pans where there is no considerable amount of grinding necessary, but only such friction as will brighten the particles and enable them to adhere to the silvered surface, and such we do not wish to be understood as claiming broadly as our invention.

Having thus described our invention, What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As a new article of manufacture, shoes and dies for amalgamating-pans, formed of silver, substantially as herein described.

2. In an amalgamating-pan, the combination of stationary dies A and the shoes B, said shoes and dies being made of silver, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

in witness Whereot'we hereunto set our hands.

JOSEPH S. JOHNSON. MELZAR OSBORN. Witnesses M. B. ULAPP, I SUMNER P. VIcKERs.

These silvershoes and dies add to 

